Caught on Tape: GOP Rep Tells School Kids That Children With Gay Parents Would Be Better Off in Orphanages

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) was caught on a recording telling high school students that children of gay parents would be better off in orphanages, The Los Angeles Blade reports.

Smith told students at Colts Neck High School in May that he was opposed to allowing same-sex couples to adopt children.

Student Hannah Valdes told Smith that she has a gay sister who wants to adopt in the future. She asked whether “based on household studies” would be “less of a legitimate parent” than a straight person.

Smith claimed that “the issue, legally, is moot at this point especially with the Supreme Court decision,” even though the Supreme Court only upheld a same-sex couples right to marry but not to adopt.

Valdes continued to press Smith on why he believes her sister should not be allowed to adopt.

Smith claimed that “there are many others who would like to adopt who can acquire a child” and “the waiting periods are extremely long.”

Another student asked why those “others” are more qualified to become parents.

When another student asks what makes these “others” more suited to become parents than her fellow student’s sister, Smith starts to reply, “in my opinion a child needs every possibility of,” without finishing his sentence. That might have been a prelude to saying a child needs every chance of being raised by a mother and a father.

That’s when Smith praised orphanages. In that context, Smith suggested even being raised in an orphanage without parents would be better for a child than having LGBT parents.

“Somebody mentioned orphanages before,” Smith said. “I mean, orphanages are still a possibility for some kids.”

One student is heard uttering an indignant response over the idea the congressman would rather have kids in orphanages than being raised by LGBT parents: “You’d rather have kids in an orphanage than with — ?”

Valdes later told The Blade that Smith previously told students that “he does not approve of gay adoption because gay households are not healthy environments for children to grow up in.”

“He then stated that ‘numerous household studies’ show that children that have heterosexual parents have better lives than children that have homosexual parents,” she added.

At least 75 studies have found that children of same-sex couples fare no worse than other children.

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